After graduating from the Sydney FC Academy, Corey Hollman expected his career to skyrocket. Instead, it sadly declined as he underwent rehab and hit many speed bumps along the way after signing his first professional contract. Now back to playing football, he is prepared to give it his all in a Sky Blue jersey once again.
Rewind more than a year ago to 2022 and Corey was fresh off a great campaign with the NPL side and had made one appearance for the Isuzu UTE A-League side which came in December 2021 against Macarthur. He was included in the squad that flew over to Vietnam for the Asian Champions League but was sent home early after picking up an injury which derailed his progress.
“It’s call osteitis pubis,” Hollman said.
“It’s basically like pubic bone overload and stuffed up my groin and core. It’s a sharp pain while playing and then afterwards it just constantly aches.”
After getting scans, it was confirmed that this injury was not just an easy fix and Hollman underwent a lengthy rehab period that included time in the pool, plenty of gym work and running before getting touches on the ball again.
“After six months of rehabbing I hurt myself again and then ended up needing surgery which set me back another six or seven months.
“Surgery was extremely painful. The first week I couldn’t do anything for myself,” the 19-year-old added.
Reflecting on a very tough period for him mentally, Hollman walked us through who was there for him in the tougher periods and he didn’t have to look far with brother Jake and sister Shay playing professional football for Macarthur and Sydney FC Women respectively.
“Jake and Shay know what it is like to have an injury so they were very supportive and Mum and Dad were great to talk about it as well.
“When we were younger, it was very competitive [between us] but now we are older we just talk about football all through the house,” he joked.
“It was good having them around as we could chat about them and their training rather than my injury.”
Now back after a long process, he is relishing the opportunity to prove himself again after a major setback.
“I have been training a little while now but playing the friendly the other day, it was very different to what a normal session is as you link up with other players differently.
“Brattan was talking to me the whole time, and after being away for so long, it makes that adjustment a lot easier in terms of where you should be,” the midfielder said.
“Walking through the two front doors here, it feels like you’re turning up to a home and during my rehab, the physios were unbelievable.”
Now back and in the equation, Corey has his sight set on making an impact at Sydney FC once again.
“Trophies are the biggest goals from a team perspective but for me individually I want to get minutes.
“I just want to be playing because I’ve missed a lot and it’s been a while,” Hollman concluded.
Corey will be looking to get minutes against the Central Coast Mariners on Sunday the 13th of August in Wollongong as the Australia Cup Round of 32 rolls around again.
